


You Protect Me, I'll Protect You

by FudgingPastry



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, F/M, M/M, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 19:53:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6253726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FudgingPastry/pseuds/FudgingPastry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gamzee accidentally lets slip that Karkat's a mutant to a Church sister of his. When the sister attacks, Gamzee attempts to protect Karkat by fighting her alone. When that plan starts to go downhill, Karkat joins the fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Protect Me, I'll Protect You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [writingbonez](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingbonez/gifts).



> I know that your prompt was for a picture, but I hope you don't mind a fic instead. ^^;

Karkat heard the knocking on the door once and ignored it. He wasn’t expecting any visitors and hell, it was still light out and he did not want to be caught out in the blazing heat of the sun. He liked not being burned to a crisp, thank you very much. He relaxed on the couch, reading one of his all-time favorite novels when a louder, second knock came from the door. Karkat groaned and slid further down in his seat, irritated that his peaceful reading had been broken by an extremely enthusiastic knocker. By the time the third knock came, it sounded more like the person was pounding on the door, frantic to be let in. With an irritated sigh that was more a growl than anything, Karkat walked to the door, already starting in on a tirade as he cracked it open.

“Congratulations, you’ve won the award for being the most enthusiastic knocker on Alternia! Now what the fuck do you want? The sun’s still out and—Gamzee?” Karkat stopped, dumbstruck, as Gamzee stood in front of his hive fiddling with his fronds. He was covered head to foot in armor and wrappings meant to block out the sun. Gamzee didn’t say a word as he pushed past Karkat, slamming the door shut and locking it up as tight as he could. He immediately went to the windows and made sure they were secure. Karkat watched his moirail check every opening on the main floor of his hive, the clown always checking over his shoulder and scanning the slowly darkening horizon, until Karkat finally got sick of being left in the dark.

“Gamzee, what the fuck?” he asked as he grabbed Gamzee’s arm, forcing him to stop whatever he was doing. “I thought you were with your church… group? Family? Whatever the hell it’s called.” Gamzee chewed his lip, not quite looking at his moirail. Karkat elbowed him in the gut, prompting him to speak. Gamzee unwrapped the cloth from around his face so that he could be heard.

“I… A brother might’ve fucked up, bro,” he responded vaguely.

“Fucked up? Fucked up what?” Karkat asked. He noticed that Gamzee’s trembling got worse and he was fiddling with his fronds more now. The shorter troll pursed his lips and dragged Gamzee to the pile, knowing that this was going to be a long story. He let Gamzee lock the respiteblock door as tight as it would go; Karkat didn’t think he would be able to stop him even if he tried. He settled Gamzee down in the pile. As he waited for his moirail to explain, Karkat attempted to take off Gamzee’s armor so he’d be more comfortable, but the clown stopped him and shook his head no.

“Met a sister new to the fleet,” Gamzee started. “We got our hangout on and she told me some real interesting things. She can see colors when she hears voices, bro. Colors and shapes of all types from all types of voices. It’s all kinds of miracles given to her by the Messiahs, you know. She and I got to talking about moirails and she told me about her little pale star. Said that even though he’s low on the spectrum, he’s mediating between a teal and a jade. She looked all kinds of proud of him, she did.”

“Okay, so you talked about your quadrants. So what? What do you think you fucked up?” Karkat asked, impatient. Gamzee licked his lips before answering, fiddling with his palmhusk until it lit up. He accidentally hit a button and Karkat’s voice drifted out from the speakers. Gamzee shut it down quick, flushing purple in embarrassment.

“She wanted to know what you sounded like,” he explained when Karkat gave him a look. “It’s a hobby for her and her palemate, she said. Find videos of people talking and she tells him what colors they sound like. I played a little bit of that for her and…” he trailed off and Karkat felt a wave of fear creep over him. He had an idea of where this was going, but he waited for Gamzee to finish. As Gamzee continued, his voice started to tremble. “Brother, her eyes got real big and real wide and she said you sounded red. Karbro, I got all scared a second, but laughed and said that you were pretty low on the spectrum, that it’d probably make sense you sounded so like your color.”

“You… what?” Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no, Karkat knew exactly where this was going now, but Gamzee was falling into a panic and his words were all rushing out of his mouth and there was no stopping him until he was finished.

“I was trying to brush you off as rust, brother. You gotta understand. I thought she meant something like Aradia when she said red. But she grabbed me by the arm and got real close to my face and she hissed all soft like she was speaking sin. ‘Makara,’ she said. ‘He’s red like Messiah Raging.’”

The reference went over Karkat’s head, but he got the gist of what it meant. Whoever this troll was, she said he sounded like mutant red and Karkat assumed that from Gamzee’s reaction to it, he just spilled that he was dating a mutant. Karkat’s assumption was proven right by the next thing that came from Gamzee’s mouth.

“I’m sorry brother. I panicked and I didn’t respond right away and she… she muttered something about the Empress’ orders and doing what had to be done and—“

“She doesn’t know where I live, right?” Karkat asked, his pump biscuit pounding. When Gamzee didn’t respond, Karkat jumped from the pile and went to a window, looking out on the darkening sky. “She didn’t follow you, right? Gamzee! Answer the god damn question!” Gamzee jumped, all shaking scared and Karkat apologized, taking his hand and trying to shoosh him as best as he could. Karkat didn’t think it worked.

“I wouldn’t know. She’s got this weapon that can make her unseen if she don’t want to be seen. It messes with your senses and you don’t quite hear her coming if you ain’t—“

Karkat didn’t see Gamzee move. He was on the pile one second and then covering Karkat with his body after tackling him to the ground. Less than a second later, the hive shook and the window shattered. If the mutant had been left standing where he was, he’d have a face full of glass shards. Gamzee was on his feet immediately, a club already in his hand. He snuck to the window, peering out into the darkness. Karkat watched with his heart in his throat as one of Gamzee’s ears twitched and he shot back away from the window as another shockwave rocked the hive.

“Gamzee!” Karkat gasped. Gamzee crawled over to his moirail and pressed his hands around Karkat’s face.

“Shoosh, best friend. Don’t let her hear you. Don’t let her know where you’re at. Don’t you worry, palest love. I’ll protect you,” Gamzee promised, his hands shaking as Karkat tried reaching for him. Fear radiated off Karkat’s body as Gamzee pulled from him and ran to the window. He hopped onto the sill, the armor covering the soft parts of his body shielded him from the glass shards. He was shaking and he closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. When his eyes snapped open, his gaze was hard and fierce with the will to protect his moirail. Without a glance back, Gamzee jumped from the window.

A third shockwave slammed into the hive and Karkat was thrown off his feet in an attempt to see where Gamzee went. Outside, he heard grunts and shouts and a series of discordant notes. Finally, Karkat fell towards the window, careful of the glass, and looked for Gamzee. The moon was just rising; the ground steamed from the heat of the day and Karkat couldn’t see Gamzee through it.

Karkat heard the musical notes right before there was a sound akin to an explosion from the back of the hive. He bolted from the window, searching for his moirail every chance he could. The hive stopped shaking with every note and whatever had been hitting the hive turned away, probably to focus on—GAMZEE!

Karkat stopped at a window as soon as he saw the shape of his moirail darting around outside. The tall shape of an unfamiliar troll stood in the same place, whipping around as Gamzee dashed into view and she would lift her arm and a chord of notes would crash through Karkat’s eardrums and Gamzee would be thrown out of view again. The troll held a musical device—a violin Eridan called it once. As she turned again Karkat caught a view of her face: dark, gray, and frozen still in an expression of hardened will. He felt as though he was looking at stone instead of flesh.

Gamzee couldn’t get close enough to her to strike and it looked like he was favoring one of his legs. Karkat felt fierce determination shoot through his limbs. He had to do something! He had to help! He couldn’t let his moirail die. Karkat flung himself from the window and quickly changed into anything that gave him some kind of protection. He didn’t have armor like Gamzee, but he had some tough, leather clothes. He threw them on as quickly as he could. He grabbed a pair of sickles, captchalogued them, and, with a flat four-wheeled device in his hands, he ran out to the roof. Once outside, he silently hoped that the horrorterrors won’t let him fail miserably and die a horrible death from falling off his hive. He tossed the four-wheeled device down, jumped on it, and pushed both him and it off the roof and down the sloped side.

Seeing as this was the first time he attempted something as stupid as this, he missed his target. Thankfully, he wasn’t too far off. The unfamiliar troll went down with a grunt as the four-wheeled device slammed into her pan. Karkat ducked and rolled away, his sickles in his hands as Gamzee stared on, dumbstruck. As Gamzee recovered from his shock, Karkat kicked the incapacitated troll’s weapon away. He backed up to Gamzee, smirking.

“Bro,” Gamzee started, frowning at the shorter troll. “I thought I told you I had this under control.”

“You just promised to protect me, not that you were going to fight this fucker by yourself,” Karkat replied, breathing a little heavy from his fall. “Besides, I can’t let you—what the fuck?” He spun on his heels as the female troll got up on her hands and knees. Gamzee raised his arm up in front of Karkat as if to protect him, his head lowered and his lips raised in a snarl. But she didn’t try to run for her weapon. She stayed in the same position and Karkat wondered if he landed on her horns hard enough that the impact was jarring for her. A low humming filled the air, the pitch trembling along the edge of what Karkat could hear. It made his hair stand on end and fear threatened to freeze him in place. Gamzee’s ears twitched at the noise, grabbing Karkat’s arm and backing him away from the troll. When she breathed in very deeply, Gamzee threw Karkat back.

“Run!” he shouted right as the humming jerked into a high-pitched scream. Karkat stumbled back and tried to get away from the kneeling clown, but the noise pierced his ears and all he saw was white. Then he was picked up, thrown over Gamzee’s shoulder, and he was carried away. The burning whiteness faded away and Karkat could hear the sound of pursuit from behind them. They ran through a nearby forest and he could tell Gamzee was struggling with running for so long with the added weight of his moirail. Karkat started to tell Gamzee to put him down, but Gamzee refused immediately.

“Gotta get you safe,” he panted, attempting to be quiet. The sounds of pursuit paused for a moment, but another piercing shriek ripped through the trees to their right. Gamzee adjusted the direction he ran in, nearly tripping over a root in his haste.

“Sister’s not right in her pan,” he explained as he stumbled forward. He started running again and Karkat thought he saw a flash of curved yellow horns in the distance. “We gotta get you safe, palest love of—“ Gamzee’s words cut off as he stumbled again and the two of the rolled down a ravine into the stream below. The clown hissed in pain, clamping a hand over his shoulder. In between the hard leather pads and the purple wraps, a long gash cut its way through Gamzee’s skin. Purple blood welled to the surface and the area was filled with that low humming. Karkat dragged Gamzee through the stream and into a small cave some beast once called hive. It smelled of damp, but the scent of whatever beast it homed was too faint for them to be afraid of it returning.

They huddled as far back in the cave as was possible, ignoring the cramping in their limbs as the sound of their pursuer came closer. She was panting, winded from more than running. She slowed at the edge of the ravine. The humming fell silent and Gamzee gestured for Karkat to be quiet. He barely breathed.

The female troll moved around, sliding down the ravine to the stream. Karkat could see her legs moving around and he hoped beyond hope that she wouldn’t think to look in the cave. With every move she made, she stopped, waiting for the sounds to die down. He was sure she could hear his heart pounding; he thought it was going to burst from his chest. But she never looked in the cave. She moved on from the stream, searching. When Gamzee was sure she was gone, he fumbled around in a pouch attached to his waist. He pulled out a palmhusk, showing it to Karkat.

“Got it off her the one time I landed a hit on her. I don’t wanna kill a sister of the church, but we gotta get her to calm down before she kills you,” he explained softly, pressing buttons until he found her trollian list. He highlighted one of the handles—it was listed in light green—and handed the palmhusk to Karkat. “That’s her palemate. Get a hold of him, tell him what’s going on, and…” Gamzee trailed off, his ears twitching as he listened. There were footsteps above the cave. Karkat heard the sound of a violin string being plucked and his face drained of color. Gamzee looked down at Karkat, his own eyes wide with fear. He lifted up one hand, spreading two of his fingers apart. Karkat finished the diamond and Gamzee darted out of the cave, getting the female clown’s attention. She followed him, the humming growing louder and the shrieks replaced by discordant notes. They ran off, leaving Karkat still hidden in the cave.

As soon as he was sure he was safe, he called the female troll’s palemate. It rang for a couple seconds, but soon enough a scratchy, thin voice filtered through the speakers.

“Wow Sckech, I didn’t think you’d be that quick. I was a little worried when you came back and then left so quickly. Are you done with church business because I found this video—“

“Shut up for a second,” Karkat hissed and the voice trailed off.

“You’re not Sckech,” they replied warily.

“Yeah, no shit. Look, your palemate decided to go on a fucking rampage and try to kill me. I don’t want to get into why, but I really like living in this hell hole and I’d also like my panleak of a palemate to stay alive too.” As Karkat waited for the troll to reply, he heard a faint crashing noise. He feared for Gamzee and he hated sitting there, waiting for him to return. Or for the female troll, Sckech, to return. He hated waiting; he was bristling and he jumped with every noise. It made him feel like a wriggler again. He felt helpless and frightened and—

“Where are you?” the palemate asked. Everything from the other end was quiet, save for the clinking sounds of metal hitting metal and the soft click of a belt snapped on around the other’s waist. Karkat gave him the coordinates, his breath hitching when a shockwave ripped through the trees above him. The line was quiet and the palemate added, “I’ll try to be quick.”

The palmhusk went silent and Karkat tucked it away. He listened and everything seemed fine. He waited for another minute before he left the cave. He stepped carefully through the stream, making sure he made as little noise as possible. He walked to the bank and climbed up, looking around the area to make sure he was alone. As he walked through the undergrowth, Gamzee’s words came back to him. Sckech could make herself unseen. Even if he looked for her as hard as he could, he would find her. Speaking of Gamzee, where was he?

“Hello motherfucker.”

Karkat had two seconds to turn before the shockwave of sound hit him dead on. It threw him to the ground, knocking the breath out of him. He got to one knee, his grip tight around one of his sickles, and looked up. Sckech looked down at him, her gray and white face nearly emotionless. Karkat felt like he was looking at a ghost; only the area around her eyes was painted in gray. The rest of her face was a shroud of white. Fear kept him frozen and the corner of her mouth quirked up in a grin.

“Got you now, little blasphemous mutant,” she hissed and lifted her bow to the violin. She closed her eyes and Karkat got his legs working with the intention to get up and run, but a tone rung out and Karkat screamed. He dropped his sickle and slapped his hands to his ears, trying to block out the incessant, high-pitched tone. She knocked it up another step and he fell to his knees, his scream lost to the sound.

He was sure he was going to go deaf, but the tone cut off abruptly. Karkat snapped his gaze up and saw Gamzee, clubs out with a little purple splattered over them. Sckech’s hand went to her side, felt the wound, and snarled. She grabbed her weapon, but a club came down on her hand. It caught one of her fingers as she pulled away. She jumped to her feet as he swung and she managed to dodge. Another club swung down and she blocked with her bow, hissing and snarling in his face. The other club swung back, but she blocked it with the violin. The wood creaked under the impact, but it didn’t snap. Karkat watched as his moirail swung his clubs, blocking her jabs—there was a blade on the edge of the bow—and trying to land a hit on her. She went on the defensive, but she was quick. For every swing of Gamzee’s club, she blocked him and jabbed him. He growled out between hits.

“Don’t… you… fucking… touch… my… moirail!” Gamzee’s club collided with Sckeck’s side and it knocked her aside. Seeing his chance, Karkat lunged for his sickles and sprinted at the female clown. As he got close, a scream ripped from her mouth and both trolls had to dodge the attack. And then she was up and running. Gamzee went to Karkat’s side, made sure he was okay, and they chased after her. Gamzee would catch her with his long arms and longer stride while Karkat jumped in and slash at her. She was always one step ahead of them, but she couldn’t get her bow to her weapon to make a sound. She couldn’t charge up a scream that could knock them aside and Karkat whooped when he landed a hit on her.

Karkat swung his sickle for another shot when the air burst into smoke in front of his eyes. He reared back and more smoke exploded to his right. Gamzee was coughing and whatever the smoke was, it made his eyes water and sting. He panicked when he felt one arm go numb and then he was picked up by the front of his shirt and he was carried out. Gamzee all but flung him out of the reach of the smoke and stumbled down to his side, coughing out smoke and trying to bring in deep breaths of fresh air.

“What the… motherfuck was that?” Gamzee asked, helping his moirail up.

“I don’t have the faintest idea,” Karkat replied, clenching and unclenching his hand. At least that could still move. Gamzee was scanning the smoke, no doubt looking for Sckech to come bursting out after them. Nothing came from the wall of pale smoke, but when a figure landed in front of them, both trolls brought their weapons to the intruder’s neck.

“Whoa, whoa, hey!” the troll shouted. The scratchy voice of Sckech’s palemate made Karkat pull back a little. The new troll was shorter than Karkat and his short hair stuck out in random directions. Goggles covered his eyes and a gas mask hung around his neck. One hand that had been raised in a wave froze in place. He swallowed and laughed sheepishly.

“Sorry I took so long. We’re kind of on the other side of the—okay, look, my name’s Paeler and—“

“Paeler?” Gamzee asked incredulously.

“Don’t make fun of the name,” Paeler shot back. “Okay, look, I’m sorry about Sckech and I’m sorry about throwing smoke bombs in your faces, but it was really the only way I could get her to calm down without much of a mess. And…” he trailed off, looking at the slowly dissipating smoke cloud. “Speaking of Sckech, give me a sec.” He took a step back, refitted the gas mask over his mouth and nose, and ran straight into the smoke. Within a few minutes, Paeler returned. He dragged Sckech’s limp and unconscious body out of the smoke. At the other two’s shocked expressions, he explained.

“Look, I made this stuff to be strong enough to knock out a highblood. It’s just a bunch of herbs and incense? Which is… herbs, I guess…” Paeler shrugged and went back to dragging his moirail’s body. In another minute, a large slitherbeast slithered up. Paeler threw Sckech on the slitherbeast’s back and climbed up.

“Okay, look, I’ll make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” he called from on top of the slitherbeast’s head.

“And exactly how the fuck are you planning on doing that?” Karkat asked. Paeler shrugged.

“Shouldn’t be too hard, you know. I don’t really know what this whole thing was about, but, yeah, I’ll fix it. Trust me. Oh! Yeah, you,” he pointed at Karkat. “You’re bleeding a little.”

Karkat lifted his hand to touch where Paeler had pointed and felt the tell-tale wetness of a wound. He raised his head to yell something back, but the slitherbeast was already disappearing between the other hives.

“I’m sure he’ll fix it, best friend,” Gamzee said, turning to Karkat, who was trying to figure out if his legs were still working. “You okay, palest love?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I think I just breathed in too much of that shit.”

“Bro, do you want me to carry you?” Gamzee asked, worrying plain in his tone.

“No! I’m perfectly fine. Here, I’ll show you!” Karkat shot back. Unfortunately, when he tried to take a step towards his hive, his leg crumpled beneath him and he fell flat on his face. Gamzee tried not to laugh at the scene and Karkat grumbled into the ground. “You might have to carry me. I can’t feel my legs. Or my arms.”

Gamzee chuckled and picked Karkat up in his arms and gave him a tiny, little pale kiss on his forehead. He grumbled, but allowed Gamzee to carry him back. He was going to need a good feelings jam after this mess.


End file.
